You can feed your family from your own vegetable garden all summer and maybe have enough to freeze for winter or give to friends & family. Even small vegetable gardens can yield enough to make it worthwhile with small space techniques.

What vegetables can you grow? Based on your, & your family's, preferences select whatever you like accordingly, but you do need to research what conditions the plants like too. Most vegetables like light, well draining soils with a least 6 hours of direct sun per day. Clay type soil can make root vegetables become tough & "woody" such as carrots, parsnips and beets, because of the extra effort to grow in such soil.

Planting time for vegetables varydepending on if they are hardy or tender. Some quick growing & hardy vegetables can be resown in succession throughout the summer, such as radishes. Hardy vegetables such as beets, carrots, lettuce, cabbage & onions, can be sown between mid March and April. Tender vegetables, such as beans, corn, tomatoes, eggplant, & peppers, need to wait until about May to June.

Plant seeds in rows that run north and south to get maximum sun exposure. Use string stretched between two stakes to get your rows straight. Use a hoe or pointed stick to draw furrows in the soil, using the string for your guide. Dig the furrows a little deeper than recommended on the seed packet and position the seeds as directed there too. Some seeds are very fine and will require thinning later. Push only as much dirt back over the seeds as the packet recommended so that the dirt is lower than the sides. This will create a "well" effect so that allows water to soak in over the seeds and not between the rows.

Tip: A makeshift fencing of chicken wire helps keep prowlers out of the garden and digging up the tender seedlings. Use metal rods in the corners and along lengthy sides, woven into the mesh, to keep it standing straight and reinforced.

Some small space vegetable gardening techniques include verticle gardening. Pole beans can climb up a teepee shape, and can be a fun place inside the teepee for kids to sit. Old tires can be used for potatoes by adding a new tire each time you need to "hill" your crop. Other vine type plants can be grown up netting such as cucumbers & peas.

If you have any Vegetable Gardening tips, please share them with us on the Community Forum.